Curtis said Utah's legislative leaders are not calling for statutory changes. "Those laws — those antitrust, anti-competitive laws — have been on the books for a long time, and there's legitimate policy reasons behind them," he said.

House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, also signed the letter but did not attend Wednesday's news conference.

Other Utah government entities have chimed in on the potential merger. On Tuesday, the Davis County Board of Commissioners added its voice to the dissenters through a resolution.

"The county urges Congress and appropriate federal agencies to carefully scrutinize US Airways' unsolicited merger with Delta Air Lines to guard against the potential for anti-competitive behavior," the resolution states.

Commissioner Dannie McConkie said there are about 25,000 employees at the airport. "Many of those people live in this county," McConkie said.

McConkie said he feared that a merger would eliminate Salt Lake City as a hub and the potential for a direct flight to Europe.

Commissioners plan to send their resolution to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Utah's congressional delegation and the U.S. attorney general.

Last week, the Salt Lake City Council adopted a joint resolution with Mayor Rocky Anderson expressing a preference that Delta emerge from bankruptcy as a stand-alone carrier. The resolution also urged federal officials to "carefully scrutinize US Airways' unsolicited merger with Delta Air Lines to guard against the potential for anti-competitive behavior, to ensure a level of competition among airlines that will benefit the traveling public and to ensure that the high level of air service to Utah and the Intermountain West is continued."

---

Contributing: Joseph M. Dougherty

E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com